Posted: 8/25/2010
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) faculty members Cheryl Dennison, PhD, RN, ANP and Jason Farley, PhD, MPH, CRNP were included in The Daily Record’s first annual VIP list of 40 very important professionals age 40 and under. The VIPs were chosen based on a commitment to inspiring change in their community and their tremendous professional accomplishments achieved before or by age 40.
Dennison, 40, is a clinician, researcher, and nurse educator and was recently named a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. As a national leader in cardiovascular nursing, her research and policy work have contributed to improvements in high blood pressure care and control for underserved populations, both in the U.S. and internationally.
In addition to her research and policy work, Dennison considers teaching to be one of the best ways to give back to the community. “I am very proud to be involved in educating the next generation of nurse leaders,” she says. As a nurse educator, Dennison passes on the skills she’s learned through her research interests, including the impact that nurse-led, interdisciplinary, and technology-based interventions can have on underserved populations.
Her current research focuses on facilitating the implementation of heart failure guidelines and improving the quality of care among heart failure patients both locally and in international settings. Dennison is a co-investigator on two National Institutes of Health-funded trials testing the effectiveness of community-based cardiovascular risk intervention programs for high-risk urban populations and on another international study assessing total cardiovascular risk and barriers to high blood pressure care among black South Africans.
Farley, 34, is both a JHUSON faculty member and a nurse practitioner in the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Johns Hopkins AIDS Service. He also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa. Farley is currently serving on a technical reference committee for the World Health Organization (WHO) charged with developing a strategic plan to transform nursing and midwifery education globally, a position he considers his greatest professional accomplishment to date. “The opportunity to debate with thought leaders on methods to improve clinical and didactic nursing education at a global level is a surreal experience,” Farley says.
His current research assesses the epidemiologic interactions of patients with HIV and drug resistance infections in both domestic and international settings. Farley’s opportunities as a nurse researcher and clinician are a result of earning his PhD, he says. He advises students and young nurses that experience matters. “Healthcare norms of today, those things that make you think there must be a better way, are the golden opportunities of tomorrow; let your experience be your guide,” Farley explains.
The 40 honorees will be celebrated on Sept. 29 at Gertrude’s, the restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art.